Political Quotes

“I come to the floor again--I believe for the 10th time since March--to discuss the Zika virus. The first time I talked about this was back in January. There was a report out that said Zika, the disease, was being transmitted by mosquitoes and there was an outbreak in Brazil. Immediately for me alarm bells went off because being from Miami, FL, my hometown, if you go to the airport and look at the board, the number of flights coming from Brazil to South Florida, the numbers are high. There are dozens of flights a week back and forth. My immediate thought at that time was that this is going to be an issue for Florida and ultimately for America, given the amount of travel back and forth. I also saw the outbreak in the territory of Puerto Rico, a place I have taken a tremendous interest in since my time here. As everyone knows, Puerto Rico is not officially represented in this Chamber, but I, along with my colleagues Senator Menendez of New Jersey and Senator Nelson of Florida, have always looked out for the interests of the island and its people who are U.S. citizens. So knowing the link between Florida and Puerto Rico and the link between Zika and Puerto Rico, I knew as early as January that this was going to be an issue. I immediately talked to our Border Patrol folks and our Customs people at our airports and seaports about ensuring we are doing everything we can.…”